Nepal's Rohit Paudel fires a massive warning to Sri Lanka ahead of their T20 World Cup clash

Nepal captain Rohit Paudel has expressed his confidence about trying to beat Asian giants Sri Lanka in their next ICC T20 World Cup 2024 group game.

In this T20 World Cup edition, we have already seen a few upsets take place and Rohit Paudel is determined that his Nepal team is next in line. A team that has nothing to lose, should only think about winning. The Asian minnows have been placed in a group that contains two teams from their continent with the other two coming from Africa and Europe. 

Having the likes of South Africa, Netherlands, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh in the same group is certainly a scary thing for Nepal. However, skipper Rohit Paudel has the belief that they can at least cause an upset by beating the Lankans. They are one of the few teams that has played only one game in the T20 World Cup but their match tomorrow can become a part of history. 

Not because of the upset but because Paudel believes that he can manifest good things in the team. 

What did Rohit Paudel say about Nepal's chances against Sri Lanka? 

While speaking to ESPNcricinfo on the eve of the fixture, Rohit Paudel expressed high hopes for his team. When asked about Nepal's chances against Sri Lanka, the batting All-rounder started by highlighting the upsets that have taken place in this edition. ICC Associate members beating high-profile international teams is something that is feeling the Nepali team's confidence.  

Rohit Paudel has rather taken it as a motivation for their game against Sri Lanka tomorrow at the Central Broward Regional Park in Florida. He has claimed that his team is in full swing with their preparations and that they have faith in the team to beat the one-time World T20 champions. 

That the preparation and the hard work they have put in the last 12 months is going to help them prevail against Sri Lanka, feels Rohit Paudel. 

"If you see in this World Cup, you'll see that the Associate team is beating Test-playing countries. So, it is a motivation for all of us, especially moving forward to tomorrow's game."

"So as a team, we believe that we are going to win tomorrow and the way we have been preparing for the last couple of months and the way we have been playing cricket for the last one and a half years, I think the belief is always there in the team and we are looking forward to tomorrow's game." - Paudel told ESPNcricinfo. 

Paudel claims Sri Lanka will be under more pressure

Sri Lanka won't want themselves to be in this situation but Rohit Paudel feels that they are the ones under more pressure to face Nepal in the T20 WC. The Lankans are coming at the back of back-to-back losses against South Africa and Bangladesh and the fixture with the Nepali team is a do-or-die match. 

"I think team Sri Lanka is under more pressure than us." 

In a realistic sense, Nepal has a better chance than Sri Lanka to reach the Super 8 round but only if they beat South Africa and Bangladesh after beating the Lankans.